FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CEFOTAXIME - PAGE 2

The Sensex closed in positive territory on Friday following impressive gains in most of the stocks. Techs counters also recovered towards the end of the trading session, but tech bellwether Infosys Technologies was trading with losses. Bank, cement and auto stocks were the key drivers. At close the BSE Sensex was up 85.42 points at 4,382.50. The NSE Nifty also registered gains to close at 1,386.95 up 29.75 points. At 3:50 PM... The markets continued with their upward movement amidst buying interest witnessed across all sectors.

NEW DELHI: Indian drug price regulator has allowed local drugmakers such as Biocon and Wockhardt to increase the price of insulin used by diabetes patients, besides agreeing to a marginal increase in price of popular pain reliever aspirin due to rising cost of production. The local pharma companies making insulin will benefit with the decision of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). But the move will not push up cost of the medicine significantly for the consumer as imported brands of multinational firms Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi Aventis have over two-third market share.

NEW DELHI: Antibiotics and vitamin segments of the domestic pharmaceutical market will feel the pinch as the government has effected steep cuts in prices of a host of bulk drugs in these categories. In the antibiotics segment, prices of a few Erythromycin derivatives used as bulk drugs and broad-spectrum Cephalosporin Cefotaxime Sodium have been cut/fixed by the price regulator, NPPA. Although producers of bulk Erythromycin derivatives like Alembic and Sun Pharma will take the hit immediately, the adverse impact of the price cut will be stronger on formulators who lack integrated production streams.

MUMBAI: In the first two weeks of October, a few domestic pharma companies that made and sold the painkiller rofecoxib announced that they will discontinue producing this drug. The unprecedented event followed global pharma giant Merck's announcement of a worldwide withdrawal of its blockbuster Vioxx (rofecoxib). Merck withdrew the drug because of increased risk of cardiac complications and stroke. While the withdrawal could give Merck a $2.5bn heartburn, domestic companies that dropped Vioxx clones from their portfolio didn't flinch.

MUMBAI: In the first two weeks of October, some Indian pharma companies manufacturing and selling painkiller rofecoxib announced they would discontinue the drug. The unprecedented announcement followed global pharma giant Merck's announcement of a world-wide withdrawal of its blockbuster Vioxx (rofecoxib) because of increased risk of cardiac complications and stroke. While the withdrawal could give Merck a $2.5-billion heartburn, Indian companies which dropped Vioxx clones from their portfolio didn't flinch much.

Mumbai: Pharma company Lupin has posted a net profit of Rs 86 lakh in the second quarter ended September '03, down from Rs 27.9 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, on account of the huge increase in extraordinary items. Lupin reported that net profit (before extraordinary items) for the quarter ended September '03 was up 86% at Rs 51.8 crore, compared with Rs 27.9 crore a year ago. The board decided on a one-time write-off of certain old trade receivables and advances, and diminution in the value of certain fixed assets, net of taxes.

NEW DELHI: National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on Tuesday announced reduction in prices of 75 formulation packs including vitamin-based medicines, while fixing prices of 12 formulations for the first time. In case of 75 packs the prices have been brought down in the range of 0.26 per cent to 61.92 per cent, an official release said here. The revision in prices was warranted due to downward revision in the price of various scheduled bulk drugs, it said and added that prices in case of six packs had been increased in the range of 0.10 per cent to 17.87 per cent due to upward revision in prices of raw materials.

MUMBAI: Mumbai-based pharma company Lupin is in advanced stages of negotiations with various companies in the US for the distribution of ceftriaxone, an injectable antibiotic. Speaking to ET, Lupin chairman D B Gupta said that the company plans to use three different channels for distributing and marketing. "We are looking at marketing and distribution to hospitals, direct to doctors and to the trade and we may tie up with different companies for each of these," he said. The product is the generic equivalent of Rocephin, which is marketed by Roche.

NEW DELHI: Domestic mid-sized pharma companies continue to attract big-time investment from international private equity funds. In the latest instance, CVC International, the private equity investment arm of Citicorp Global Investment, has struck a deal with the Chandigarh-based Nectar Lifesciences to buy over 22% in the company. The US private equity fund will cough up a premium of Rs 135 a share. Nectar Lifesciences was formerly known as Surya Medicare. The stake acquisition will cost the US equity fund Rs 45 crore.